Tag Archives: WWE Survivor Series

After the dizzying highs of Evolution and the terrifying lows of Crown Jewel we come to the redheaded stepchild of the WWE PPV calendar. It once was a big deal before the explosion of gimmick matches in the company, and now it’s just a thing where Raw and Smackdown fight. Allegedly this happens only once a year, if you don’t count battle royals and tournaments. I cannot say I am particularly hyped for this event, especially after the Becky injury, but who knows? Maybe by getting all the talent on the Raw and Smackdown rosters together something good will happen. Or it will be a grind like most recent PPV’s. I’m Spaceman Frank and these are my Survivor Series 2018 predictions!

Well that is quite a mouthful. This preshow match features loads of teams you may have forgotten about or simply not cared about compete for your attention. Really, the only teams that can be considered remotely popular here are The Usos and The New Day, and they are both on the same team. Hell, WWE had to bring in Lucha House Party from 205 Live just to fill the ranks here. Since Smackdown has the popularity power over all five of the Raw teams they will carry their side to the W. Then we can all feel pretty depressed over the state of the tag team divisions on the WWE main rosters.

Authors of Pain vs The Bar

The least hyped of our cross promotion matches sees some big boys slam into each other in what might be a low key sleeper match of the evening. The Bar have always been good, and even the addition of The Big Slow shouldn’t bring them down much. Meanwhile AOP have come out of nowhere to grab the tag team belts, which probably a good thing. They can put on some good hoss matches and have been neglected since being called up. I think these guys will get very little time, but will take that time to toss each other around and show off their amazing strength. As for who wins I think AOP wins since they are the younger team and The Bar chronically drop the ball on PPV.

Murphy won the belt at Super Showdown, which feels like a million years ago at this point. He has been a fine champion, if a bland. But that is not necessarily his fault as 205 Live always gets the shaft. Meanwhile Ali is the perpetual challenger to the throne, and really he deserves a chance to be a champion in the WWE. He is constantly entertaining and seems like a swell human outside the ring so he deserves more than what he’s got. Therefore I think he will win the match in an electrifying match that will give LA a wakeup call that they will probably need at some point during this show.

This already was a sideshow for the WWE for some time, and the fact that we still have a TBD spot on it shows just how little WWE cares about this. Who takes up this final spot? Lana? One of the Iconics? Will anybody care once it is revealed?! On the Raw side we have almost as many people outside the ring as there will be inside it, and Jax’s recent drama (what with breaking Becky’s face and all) will overshadow whatever else happens. Since Smackdown will win the tag team match I am thinking Raw will walk away with this one.

Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Another cross-promotional feud, another match overshadowed by outside forces. In this case it is new mega heel Dean Ambrose, who turned on Seth the same day Roman Reigns revealed his leukemia diagnosis. Everyone expects him to make his presence know and cost Rollins the match, so it is just a matter of how far this match goes before it happens. In a vacuum Nakamura and Rollins should be a barnburner, but Shinsuke has done nothing as US Champ and has fallen so far it is hard to care. The build to this has featured about three minutes of screentime, thus showing the WWE’s priorities here. Shinsuke wins after the Ambrose interference.

With no stakes outside pride in this one once again the real battle is with audience apathy. I think WWE just mashed all these people together hoping we would be excited for it, but they do not even have the fake brand warfare they have had in previous years. I don’t even think they have previous feuds that they can build off of here, so I guess we’ll just sit and watch and ooh and ahhh in the right spots. When push comes to shove I think Raw always has the advantage in these situations, so they will win out here. Next year can we have Raw vs Smackdown vs NXT instead?

Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte

What could have/should have been a potential match of the year between Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey has been downgraded to what should be an equally epic match. But Becky has been head and shoulders above everyone on the roster that anyone filling in for her would be a disappointment. This was brandied about as a potential Wrestlemania main event though, so it isn’t like this will be a disaster. Plus we now may get Becky vs Ronda at Wrestlemania instead, which I will gladly take. Since Charlotte is the last minute replacement I think Rousey will get the win while Lynch dunks on her over and over again on social media.

Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan

Now I was not exactly looking forward to AJ Styles vs Brock Lesnar again. But I think WWE did Styles dirty with having lose the belt right before the PPV. I assume he will get his rematch at TLC and hopefully will finally learn to wear a cup. That being said I do not want to see Daniel Bryan in the ring with Brock. Him as champ? I am perfectly OK with it. But Brock is a reckless monster of a man. Look at the way he threw around Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers. You want to see a man who had to retire due to concussion issues face Brock? No thank you. This match will be gross and hard to watch and I worry for Daniel Bryan. The potential for a disaster is massive here, and I just hope after Becky’s injury we do not see another lapse in judgment from WWE. Nobody wins, DQ finish, and I will be sweating throughout.

It’s time for the last Big Four PPV of the year for the WWE, and the company has gone all-out making people get hyped for this event.

Even though they announced many of the matches weeks in advance the constant shift in participants has left audiences guessing both who would be involved in the marquee matches and if WWE actually had a plan. This has benefited some wrestlers such as AJ Styles while leaving others (Jinder Mahal, Natalya, KO and Sami Zayn, etc) in the cold.

Mostly though things have worked out for the best for the audience, and really isn’t that what matters the most (if you work for WWE please don’t ask Vince or Triple H that, they will probably fire and/or Pedigree you)? Now, hopefully, WWE can translate these dream matches from the booking sheet to the ring, or this PV could start dragging like a modern day ‘Mania.

One thing I will say is while I appreciate the excitement the brand wars has brought to weekly TV, it does not make sense (YOU WORK ON TUESDAYS YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! DIE!!!!!!). I’m Spaceman Frank and here are my Survivor Series 2017 predictions.

Enzo Amore (c) vs. Kalisto (WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match)

This sole match on the two-hour preshow (unless they just throw together something else to kill time) sees these two go at it yet again. Really, they have not done much to make people care about this rematch, and my main thought during their encounters is wondering what other cruiserweights are doing currently. At least we got Drew Gulak and his Powerpoints.

I do not see a reason why WWE would choose Kalisto over Amore to be the face of the division (besides the fact that he is, you know, an excellent wrestler) so Amore will win here after doing some standup to kill some minutes.

The Miz (IC Champ) vs. Baron Corbin (US Champ)

This feud has mostly taken place on social media, which is a shame because it has been pretty spectacular.

The Miz has brought some real deal fire to Corbin, and it really makes me hope Miz gets a real feud to sink his teeth into at some point instead of jerking the curtain.

Meanwhile, Corbin has just kind of existed as champ, farting around with the likes of Sin Cara instead of getting embarrassed in promo contests with his Raw counterpart. Corbin seems like management’s boy, but really I see this as another SummerSlam situation where Corbin gets stomped on by a vet to teach him some manners IRL. Miz gets a rare win on the main card before meandering around the preshows some more.

The Bar vs. The Usos (Tag Team Champs vs. Champs match)

Two teams doing their best work are clashing, and this should a barnburner of a match.

The Usos have gone steadily towards tweener territory with fans recognizing their hard work plus the scary chop block Chad Gable gave over in England. Meanwhile, Cesaro and Sheamus has anchored many a Raw half hour with their work, and despite the whole attempted murder of Stroman thing The Bar has had a strong year.

So who wins here? I see Raw’s team getting the win here since they have been consistently the better team and they have held the belts longer. Now, hopefully, something goes wrong and we get more of Cesaro shrugs memes.

The Shield vs. The New Day

A “holy cow I need this in my life even though this was not in a card a week ago” match if I’ve ever seen one sees perhaps the most popular three-person teams of the decade square off.

What adds to this match is the fact that Roman Reigns has been out with whatever disease he had, so this is their first reunited PPV match. It almost makes us forget that he is going to headline WrestleMania 34 and ruin things for everyone all over again.

The New Day will probably get their promo time in as well, which makes me concerned just how long this PPV will be. Since The Shield are all former world champions they seem to be the choice to win, but honestly I wouldn’t be that surprised if The New Day sneak in a win due to all the merch money they sell.

First off: Who is the mystery member of Team Smackdown? Is it the obvious choice of Natalya? The obvious choice of Paige? The less obvious choice but still not surprising Nikki Bella? We shall see.

The next big question is who will actually win this match?

On one hand, I would say that SmackDown’s team unity (minus TBA person) would seem to give them an advantage.

On the other hand, we have Asuka on team Raw, and if she loses in this match I will throw something out the window. Now is not the time to have her lose, but rather dominate and seal the win for Team Raw.

Hopefully, they also have her beat the piss out of Team Raw along with everyone backstage before locking eyes with Braun and forming an epic romance. I’d pay money to see that.

Charlotte vs. Alexa Bliss (Champion vs. Champion)

Another dream match out of nowhere sees tiny but spunky taking on an Amazon for bragging rights.

Really, the build for this match was Bliss giving Charlotte a forearm, but who cares when we got two excellent workers getting ready to go to war.

Charlotte is the one on a hot streak right now with her dad’s doc getting some attention and winning the title on the last SmackDown before Survivor Series. Meanwhile, Bliss has been on Total Divas having a ball with her BFF Nia Jax, which consistently has been entertaining when the boys on the show troll everything.

With Charlotte being the hot commodity right now, I see her winning and getting a win in the column for Team Blue.

Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles (Champion vs. Champion)

While Jinder vs. Brock would have been an interesting thought experiment/fever dream/WWE 2K18 Sim, having AJ Styles win the belt and face The Beast is fantastic.

His victory is the highlight of SmackDown weekly TV for the year, and he is a natural challenger to Lesnar. I cannot stress how excited I am for this match, and every minute Styles hangs in the ring with the Universal champ is a victory for people who believe being the best worker in the company should warrant you a shot on top of the card. With Jinder, I thought a Brock win would be more secure, but I honestly give Styles more leeway to potentially win than Mahal (especially because the India tour has been downsized).

That being said, this is the one cross-promotion match that will end in a DQ/no contest. It would be weird to have one champ pin another, and Styles really deserves the non-finish over just jobbing to Brock. He has shoulders bigger than my television, he looks strong enough let AJ get the count-out or shenanigans happen so he can hold his head high.

This traditional Survivor Series match sees an all -tar jamboree throwdown to various degrees of hype.

While guys like John Cena and Triple H have just kind snuck into this match it is hard to argue that they add to this more as stills on the graphic than dudes like Rusev or Jason “happy to be here” Jordan.

My low-key person I hope does well here: Bobby Roode. He has not been very prominent in this build, and I really hope he gets to pin somebody and look good to establish him to newer fans.

I think in the end, this match will come down to what team gets sabotaged by interference worse. I can see Jordan trying to avenge himself against Triple H to impress his dad Kurt Angle. But at the same time, I do not know how you have this PPV with no KO and Sami Zayn, and I think they will cost SmackDown the match.

Sure, that gives Raw many of the victories for this PPV, but really do you expect WWE to make SmackDown look better than Raw?